15% of critical damage dealt to an exposed 'Mech component will now be directly applied to the internal structure of that component.

This is only applied to the critical damage done. Base weapon damage is not taken into account.Critical damage is not applied through armor.Armor must be reduced to 0% before any crit damage is applied to internals.Large Pulse Laser duration reduced to 0.6 (down from 0.75)Medium Pulse Laser duration reduced to 0.6 (down from 0.75)ER Large Laser base heat reduced to 8.5 (down from 9.5)PPC base heat increased to 9.0 (up from 8.0)ERPPC base heat increased to 12.0 (up from 11.0)SRM6 and 4 have a shared Max Alpha of 3. (SRM4s used to have a 4 threshold)

12v12 gameplay is now in.

The 8-man queue is now replaced by a 12-man queue.Players can launch in groups of 1,2,3,4,12. Numbers between 4-12 will be addressed when we get tonnage limits into the game.CB rewards have been adjusted to compensate for the additional 4 players on the battlefield.Assault mode base captures now take longer.Conquest point captures now take longer.Players should be aware that capping in Conquest mode takes longer now, and that it is often wise to pre-plan your routes to account for that.

The first time of each day you win a match for each 'Mech variant (owned or trial), you will earn double the XP rewards at the end of the matchIf one of your Mechs is eligible for the first victory bonus, it will be marked with an "XP x2" icon in its Mech BayOnce you earn a first victory bonus with a 'Mech, you can't earn the bonus again for that 'Mech until the eligibility resets at 12:00 AM UTC

We thank you for your patience and we look forward to seeing you on the battlefield!- The MechWarrior® Online™ Team

This is a reminder that - 1) Today is a patch day, and 2) That means servers will be coming down at 10am PDT!

I'll update this with the patchnotes once they're all completed. Oh, and if you post 'were patchnotes' or other hilarious posts about the patchnotes, I will remove them.

That said, hope you guys enjoy it, and we'll see you on the battlefield!

Cheers,The MechWarrior Online Team

UPDATE

Greetings MechWarriors,

Wow another patch notes intro! I hope I never stop writing these and I hope you never stop reading.

Lots happening in the the world of MWO so first a little recap

The Launch Event was announced if you can make it we hope to see you there.Phoenix Variants were revealed and the Loyalty program is unlocking bonus content adding more and more value.Sarah's Jenner donation drive is over and It raised a lot of money for a good cause. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for making this such a success.

Reducing spread on LBX-10 from 2.25 down to 1.3Reducing the crit probability of Machine Guns. (0.11, 0.06, 0.02 > 0.06, 0.03, 0.01)Crit damage multiplier on Machine Guns reduced from 12.5 to 9.0Ultra AC/5 has a 15% chance of jamming, down from 25%Streak SRM-2 damage has been increased from 1.5 to 2.5AC2 cooldown was increased to 0.52s (up from 0.50) to fix a timing issue.Reduced the amount of Conquest Resource reward for the losing team.Increased heat amount on lava in Terra Therma.

In the options menu is a "Start In Third Person" option to determine which view you start each match in

By default, this option is toggled on (to start games in third person view)When you are in third person view, Arm Lock is turned on and cannot be turned offWhen you are in third person view, the lance and minimap HUD elements are not availableWhen you are in third person view, there is a camera drone hovering behind you that other players can seeBy default, you can press F4 to toggle between third and first person view

This key can be rebound in the options menuYou cannot switch views while your Mech is shut down

Medium Mech Tuning:

Blackjack:

Torso Pitch Angle increased to 30 degrees

Torso twist speed increased by 25%

Centurion:

Torso pitch angle increased to 25 degrees

Torso twist speed increased by 25%

Arm pitch angle increased to 35 degrees

Cicada:

Torso pitch angle increased to 30 degrees

Torso twist speed increased by 10%

Hunchback:

HBK-4H, -4J, -4P, -4SP:

Torso pitch angle increased to 20 degrees

Torso twist speed increased by 25%

Arm pitch angle increased to 35 degrees

Max engine size increased to 275

Torso pitch speed increased by 10%

Torso twist angle increased to 125 degrees

HBK-4G:

Torso pitch angle remains at 25 degrees

Torso twist speed increased by 25%

Arm pitch angle increased to 35 degrees

Max engine size increased to 275

Torso pitch speed increased by 10%

Torso twist angle increased to 125 degrees

Kintaro:

KTO-20:

Torso pitch angle increased to 35 degrees

Torso twist speed increased by 25%

KTO-18, -19, -GB:

Torso pitch angle increased to 30 degrees

Torso twist speed increased by 25%

Trebuchet:

Torso pitch angle increased to 35 degrees

Torso twist speed increased by 25%

Bug Fixes

Changed spawn location in Terra Therma for players spawning too close to the shipping containers. This was causing Mechs to have human scale movement collision capsules, making it very difficult to navigate the world.Removed collision around the hole in center of Terra Therma's platform in Assault mode.Fixed many "stuck bugs" in Terra Therma.Fixed some collision issues in River City (Night) where certain sized Mechs were getting stuck between buildings.

General

Navigation marker posts in Terra Therma will now actually cast light (med+ spec) for slightly better path-finding. Pro-tip: If the marker post is on the right edge of the path, you are headed toward the center volcano.Terra Therma - Damage and heat sustained whilst in the Volcano has been increased and is subject to further tweaking.Cockpit lights indicating the open/closed state of weapon bay doors are currently non-functional. Normal functionality will return in a future release.

We thank you for your patience and we look forward to seeing you on the battlefield!- The MechWarrior® Online™ Team

- Third Person view is in.- Buff to LBX-10- Slight buff in the form of less jamming to UAC5.- Buff to Streaks.- Nerf to Machine Guns.- Various angle/twisting/mobility buffs to all Medium 'mechs.

Uhm, well if I remember correctly it takes 27 damage to a 100% healthy cockpit to destroy it, regardless of the 'mech or the amount of armour. 1PPC cannot oneshot you, but the overabundant 2PPc+Gauss combination can totally do it, and while it is highly unlikely I would say it can happen out of sheer chance. As tiny as the eye is on the Atlas, it is still there and with pinpoint weapons all hitting in the same spot one could have done that to you without even trying.

Every problem has a better solution when you start thinking about it differently than the normal way. - Steve WozniakWhen is [Minecraft] going to get together with DF, have a nice cuddle and a bottle of wine and finally produce the Baby that I want ? - Ironwood"Thank you for helping us help you help us all." - GlaDOS

What do you say? Does this sound like the old closed-beta MechWarrior to you? Everything Long range has been nerfed beyond any wildest expectation.

Quote

It's patchday! And that means - servers come down at 10am PDT, and will be back up by 1pm PDT! I'll update this as soon as the servers are back. So without (orion) further time wasting, here's some patchnotes to tide you over!

Cheers,Garth

UPDATE

Greetings MechWarriors!

Can you believe it's September already? (ORION) Wow time flies when you are working hard (ORION!) on features! Much love to those who know patience and understanding (ORION). This patch is (ORION!) dedicated to you.

Speaking of patience (ORION), this month the Orion makes its début in the game! The “Protector” Orion Hero ‘Mech is sure to be an instant classic with a paint job that is simply gorgeous. The Orion Standard variants will be available for MC on the 10th and for C-bills on the 17th.

We have our first tutorial covering the basics of movement to help out new players. We will be working on more tutorials in the future as well. (ORION!)

Gameplay! Look at all those changes! (ORION) A nice variety of changes, some of which are small, and some are really big. Hello better Advanced Zoom!

Host state rewind has had some improvements, and as a Ballistic fan I couldn’t be happier! Now I can bull’s-eye womp rats in Canyon Network. (ORION!)

We have so many more great things on the horizon!

Until then, I will see you on the Battlefield! (And maybe at the Launch Event too!)

Matt Newman (with some edits from Garth)

Content

New In-Game Tutorial

Click the button for the Game Modes menu (in the upper right corner of the main menu) and choose TUTORIALS.You will be loaded into a tutorial that will walk you through the basic movement controls.You will automatically use a Cataphract CTF-3D for the duration of the tutorial.When the tutorial is complete you can continue to practice in the tutorial level or press ESC and quit out to the main menu.

SRM2 and SRM4 cooldown times reduced to 2.5s and 3.25s respectively.PPC damage under 90m has been reduced to 0.Gauss Fire Delay:

The Gauss Rifle requires a 0.75 second charge before it will fire.Once charged, the shooter has 1.25 seconds to fire the round.If not fired during the 1.25 second charge, the Gauss Rifle will instantly dissipate the charge and require another charge to fire.Both the cooldown bar and the weapon group ready light will turn green when the Gauss is ready to fire.PPC base heat increased to 10 (up from 9).ERPPC base heat increased to 15 (up from 13).PPC/ERPPC projectile speed slowed to 1500m/s down from 2000m/s.Gauss projectile speed increased from 1200m/s up to 2000m/s, internal health increased to 5 (up from 3).Reduced the size of the Kintaro's center torso hit boxes by increasing the coverage of the side torso and leg hit boxes.Reduce lava damage/second by 30%.Advanced Zoom Module's implementation slightly changed giving it increased picture fidelity. Instead of returning to the default FoV before overlaying the PIP, it now zooms in closer and then applies the PIP zoom.Small changes to the third person camera position and angle to better show off the lower half of the 'Mech.

Known issue: The tops of the following 'Mechs partially obscure the player's view of where the crosshairs are aiming. A fix is currently being worked on.

CataphractJagerMechOrion

Performance

Made various improvements to host state rewinding system and hit detection overall.

Bug Fixes

Fixed an issue where the 'Mech walk animation wouldn't adjust correctly to the Engine Rating.Hanging cockpit items will now move when the 'Mech walks.Fixed an issue where the Kintaro's lower center torso would clip through the upper center torso when twisting.Weapon door light indicators in the cockpit are now working correctly.Fixed a number of stuck bugs in River City, Frozen City, and Forest Colony.Fixed some geometry clipping issues in Alpine Peaks.Fixed bug where BlackJack's rear center torso would incorrectly apply damage to rear side torso.Fixed bug where Kintaro ragdoll would react wildly upon death.Fixed a hang that could happen to certain users during combat.Fixed a desync bug for the UAC5 where the client would incorrectly fire a shot right before jamming, where the server wouldn't.

We thank you for your patience and we look forward to seeing you on the battlefield!

End result is that, after 12 months, they reverted a bunch of weapons to exactly what they were when everyone was loving the game, the brawling era of closed beta. I think they might have gone a bit too far with the ER-PPC (both heat and speed? Overkill), but I can only say I am very happy to read this. Let's see how it plays out, but it's hard to be unhappy about these changes. As for missiles, at least they have counters. And I agree, this will mark the rise of the U-AC5, but what can you do? Brawling is back, this seems to be a fact.

In theory I really like most of the patch's content (but the practical effect might be something else)

Yeah, this. I have no problem with a rise of missiles and ACs because they have very effective counters or limitations. 1) Terrain and AMS 2) Limited by Ammo.

Sure that 4x UAC can chew the hell out 3-4 mechs, but with 12 on a side he's going to be in serious trouble before the match is over. (When it was 8v8 he'd taken out half the team by then.) Plus misses more costly than a PPC miss due to that ammo being gone, so you're not going to just blow shit across the map and HOPE it hits.

Yes, 5x LRM20 can destroy you if that Stalker pegs you, but you were out in the open and didn't bring an AMS. You deserve it. Plus they spread where ballistics are pinpoint.

Pretty sure it's the effect of people panicking about the PPC nerf and trying new builds, but the first six matches after the patch have been surreal. Not a single PPC, pure brawling, longer matches. So so strange. In a good way, but I don't want to get my hopes too high. Anyway, so far, "miracle patch" for me.

First off, the Gauss Rifle. As mentioned in AtD45, I stated that the changes to the Gauss Rifle's firing mechanic were to help make it a role specific weapon. Testing has proven that while the mechanic takes a bit to get used to, it is very effective at defining the Gauss Rifle as a long range sniper weapon. The charge time is easy to get used to, due to its short (0.75 second) delay. While it is meant to be a long range weapon, the Gauss Rifle is still usable at short range. It just requires a much higher skill shot rather than a simple point and click.

This is the first of our upcoming changes that involve diversifying some of the weapon systems into more defined role types. These won't be big game changers, just small tweaks to bring some of the weapons in line with the rest. More info will be released as we put changes into the pipeline.

That being said, Flamers and a revisit of the UAC/5 are currently being looked at. I've also asked Dave to take a look at lights the same way mediums were addressed. Stay tuned for more information on that.

Seriously? Well, this makes me sound like a PGI shill then. I played for about five hours straight and I definitely noticed much less sniping, less PPCs, and much more brawling. And definitely less insta-gibs.

If anything, sniping builds are still viable, but they are Twin-Gauss based which means they are gonna make those 'mechs more fragile. Or are still twin-PPC based which makes them way less efficient when an enemy gets in brawling range (due to increased heat, hence way lower DPS). This doesn't only work on paper, but apparently, at least in my five hours, in a very different development of the fights.

I think it's just the Numbers Game mate. Don't think anyone thinks you're shilling. I probably just kept getting grouped with those unable to manage change.

I really, really blew through them. Since my Highlander hasn't changed at all, I was still rocking an average 800 damage and 3 kills per game.

Yeah, since you're not playing 5 hours a day your ELO is probably lower than Falcs. Therefore you're getting lumped in with the masses who don't read forums. I know the same will happen to me when I fire it up again. I should do that tonight for giggles.

Seems that the influx of missiles is just so constant that it drives people crazy (and eventually some damage goes through). It is mostly like some sort of Crowd Control, because no matter hoe many missiles actually deliver damage, the shake is so constant that it literally forces mistakes (and panick) on targets. Granted, not sure how really efficient it is, but it is highly in style and if you or your friends happen to be under a LRM 5 barrage without ECM you can actually notive how frustrating it can be.

The "finalize patch" thing is a mystery that I think speaks volumes about the coding talent at PGI. This whole project to me is boiling down to this:

- They have someone, not sure who they are, who coded the core fighting part, sounds, lasers and they did a great job. That's why we all got hooked to the game a year ago.- Then they have an amazing artist, Alex Iglesias, who drew the concept art for the 'mechs, and he's just insanely good at his job.

- THEN, there's everyone else, in all the other departments. And they pretty much all sucks.

Outside of the core fighting (which probably just owes a lot to the Crytek engine) and the 'mech designs, I'd say we are looking at a group of very un-talented developers, from designers to the coders to PRs and pretty much everyone. I hate to say this, but it's really hard to see it otherwise at this point. Hell, even their website and forums are a laggy mess.